


Flip-Flops

by fluxweed



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Beach Holidays, Dating service, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Ficlet, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluxweed/pseuds/fluxweed
Summary: Draco has a dating service. Harry hires him for a laugh. (It's not funny for very long.)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 27
Kudos: 219





	Flip-Flops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChuckAl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChuckAl/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Sea Breeze](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619058) by [ChuckAl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChuckAl/pseuds/ChuckAl). 



> A quick, unbeta'd ficlet for [chuck's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChuckAl/) beautiful [tropical kissing art](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619058)!!! Thank you for letting me put words to your picture, Charlie 😍

The business card was even in Slytherin colours. Harry stared at it uncomprehendingly. 

“You _have_ to do it,” Ron said. “Hire him. You _have_ to.”

“What does it even mean? What’s a dating service?”

“I think he gets people to pay him to pretend to be their boyfriend.” Ron rolled up his pancake and took a big, blissful bite. “Can you imagine what Lucius thinks?”

“But.” Harry fiddled with the card. The silver lettering glittered as it caught the light. “But how desperate would you have to be to hire _Malfoy_ for something like that?”

* * *

Malfoy had said in his letter that formal events were his speciality. From the look of him, he hadn’t been lying. Harry awkwardly straightened the collar of his robes.

“Malfoy.”

Malfoy inclined his head, not looking at him. 

“I haven’t seen you at one of these before.”

A vague hum.

“You waiting for someone?”

Malfoy’s eyes snapped to Harry’s. Understanding dawned. “You’re—?” He laughed harshly. “No. No way. Absolutely not.”

“I’ve already paid,” Harry pointed out. Actually, Seamus, Dean, Ron and Ginny had paid, all of them crying with laughter as they pressed Galleons into Harry’s hand. “I’d hate to have to write a bad review of your services.”

“As if you won’t try to ruin me anyway. Isn’t that what this is about?”

Harry shrugged. Truthfully, it was about shutting his friends up. “Depends how good you are at your job.”

Malfoy glared. “No kissing,” he said eventually. 

Harry snorted. “That won’t be a problem.”

And it wasn’t. Not at first. 

They spent the first hour in stony silence, snatching glasses of nettle wine from every floating tray that passed them. The alcohol took quick effect; they spent the second hour dissolving into increasingly hysterical laughter.

Not kissing Malfoy wasn’t a problem two weeks later at the gala that Harry invited Malfoy to on a whim, thirty minutes before it started.

It was somewhat more of a problem at the Muggle-born Equality Fundraiser, when Malfoy wore the sky blue robes that made his eyes sparkle like ice in sunlight. 

It had been a fairly significant problem ever since.

* * *

Harry had fiercely argued to be allowed to invite Malfoy to the annual Auror team-building trip—but now they were here, Malfoy’s hair softly curled from seawater, he didn’t know what he’d been thinking.

The summer sky was the same colour Malfoy’s robes had been at the Equality Fundraiser. The effect was the same—his eyes glinted like the inside of an iceberg, incongruous in the heavy heat. In fact, everything about him stood out against their tropical surroundings; his skin was pale—paler than the sand that piled at the edges of the boardwalk—and there was a singe of pink on his cheeks. Harry wanted to skim his lips over the tender skin.

“You should put sun cream on,” he said gruffly. 

Malfoy wrinkled his nose. “Sun…cream?” 

There was just so _much_ of Malfoy to look at. His shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the occasional flash of scarred chest. His long legs stretched out from simple black shorts—and he wore flip-flops. Flip-flops!

At least Malfoy also seemed to resent the flip-flops. He kept pouting at them, wincing at the slap of foot on foam, stumbling as his toes—his pale, delicate toes—failed to grip the strap. 

It didn’t take long for him to declare them to be _infernal Muggle contraptions_ that were no longer worth his time. “Help me take them off,” he demanded. 

Harry imagined falling to his knees, wrapping his hand around Malfoy’s ankle. 

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Just flick them off. Like this.” He kicked his own trainer-clad foot in demonstration.

Malfoy tried—unsuccessfully. Harry laughed. 

“You’re not being a very supportive _partner_ ,” Malfoy hissed. 

“Just—sit down.”

“On the _floor_?” His outraged tone made Harry laugh harder. Malfoy scowled, stalked to the rope fence that ran alongside the boardwalk and hoisted himself onto one of the wooden posts. Still chuckling, Harry followed unthinkingly, drawn to Malfoy like a magnet, so when Malfoy wobbled on the thin post and shot out an arm to catch himself, it was Harry’s shoulder that his grip landed on. Harry automatically put a steadying hand on Malfoy’s waist. 

He abruptly stopped laughing.

Malfoy’s skin blazed through the thin cotton of his shirt. His pale legs were parted; one of Harry’s knees was almost—almost—between Malfoy’s calves. He could reach down and take the flip-flops off Malfoy if he wanted to.

He didn’t want to.

He wanted—

“Malfoy.” His voice was rough.

The long grass behind Malfoy rustled in the sea breeze. Malfoy’s fingers flexed on Harry’s shoulder. 

“Yeah?”

Harry leaned forward. He slid his other hand inside Malfoy’s open shirt, the skin hot and smooth against his palm. Malfoy exhaled shakily. 

“About the ‘no kissing’ rule…” Harry began, but Malfoy cut him off before Harry could finish his negotiations.

“Merlin, Potter,” he said. His iceberg eyes shone. “I thought you’d never ask.”


End file.
